The best stockings for general wear, are those made of lamb’s wool, vigonia, and Shetland knit. The pedestrian well knows the difference on a long day’s walk, between a cotton or linen stocking and one of wool; he knows that the former soon becomes hard, damp, and chilly, with the moisture of the foot, whereas the latter enables him to bear fatigue, defends his foot from the friction of the shoe, secures it from blisters, and in every way ministers to his comfort.
Persons, however, who do not use much exercise may indulge in a silk stocking; ladies will not only find this the most elegant of all coverings for the feet, but at the same time far more comfortable than either cotton or linen. If the best silk is considered too expensive, then a thick spun silk is a good substitute.
The frequent change of the stockings conduces much to comfort, and they should, in cases of corns or tender feet, be worn inside-out; even the little seam of a stocking has aggravated in a great measure a corn just appearing, which but for that pressure, might soon have been got rid of.
Let the feet be bathed at least three times a week in tepid or cold water. For some years I was in the habit of making easy shoes for the late Sir Astley Cooper. That eminent surgeon never cramped his feet, nor wore shoes that would give him pain; but one thing, however, he habitually accustomed himself to, and that was to immerse his feet in cold water as soon as he arose, and use a rough towel freely afterward.
In the coldest day of winter, he was to be seen without a great coat, with silk stockings on his legs, and short breeches, traversing the court of the hospital, or sitting in his carriage.
The sponge should be applied to the feet, and between the toes, round the nails, which should be cut just to a level with the toe-end, and then a good rubbing all over with a dry towel, a little Eau de Cologne to finish off, and you feel quite another creature.
Every care should be taken that the insensible perspiration of the feet should be encouraged and allowed to pass off freely. Dr. Wilson, in his “Practical Treatise on Healthy Skin,” says: “To arrive at something like an estimate of the value of the perspiratory system, in relation to the rest of the organism, I counted the perspiratory pores on the palm of the hand, and found 3,528 to the square inch, (on the heel where the ridges are coarser 2,268). Now each of these pores being the aperture of a little tube of about a quarter of an inch long, it follows that in a square inch of skin, there exists a length of tube equal to 882 inches, or 73½ feet. Surely, such an amount of drainage as 73 feet in every square inch of skin, assuming this to be the average for the whole body, is something wonderful, and the thought naturally intrudes itself what if this drainage were obstructed?”
This is too often the case, improper shoes and waterproof materials, not only check the natural evaporation of the skin, but eventually produce diseases of the feet in the worst form; nothing so much conduces to general comfort, as the feet and ankles being in a healthy state, and few things tell upon the manners and temper more than constant pain and irritability of the extremities.
The fashions of boots and shoes have met with their share of our attention and research, the errors of form and make have been pointed out, the best remedies have been suggested, it now only remains for us to adhere as closely to nature’s laws as possible. Art may do much, but even Miss Kilmansegg’s “precious leg” of pure gold, was but a poor substitute for her more precious lost one.
“Peace and ease, and slumber lost,
She turned, and rolled, and tumbled, and tossed,
With a tumult that would not settle;
A common case indeed with such,
As have too little, or think too much,
Of the precious and glittering metal.